China's Agricultural Bank reportedly delays stock listing

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. said Friday it has no plans to proceed with a planned initial public offering at this time, signaling that it gauges market conditions as too weak for a successful listing after a streak of IPOs debuted below their offer price, according to reports.

"Agricultural Bank has no specific IPO plan. At present, the bank's major task is to push forward its rural financial services reform," the bank said in a statement printed in several Chinese newspapers and quoted in a Dow Jones Newswires report.

The bank -- China's third largest lender -- is the sole holdout among the nation's so-called "Big Four" state-owned banks to conduct a public offering. It would join Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (1398)(601398)
IDCB
Bank of China Ltd. (3988)(601988)
BACH
and China Construction Bank Corp. (939)(601939)
CICHF, +3.13%
all of which already list in Shanghai, Hong Kong and elsewhere.

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